Mark Allen hits the drink to power past Zhang Anda

A few drinks helped Allen rifle three centuries in a six-frame streak to reach the last 16.

Sun, 19 Apr, 2026 - 21:26

Mark Staniforth

Mark Allen revealed how “bad food” and a few drinks fuelled his surge into the second round of the World Snooker Championship after he swallowed up a two-frame overnight deficit to crush Zhang Anda 10-6 at the Crucible.

The Antrim 40-year-old was so disillusioned with his display on Saturday, when he failed to rustle up a break over 50, that he set about drowning his sorrows in Sheffield – and returned to rifle three centuries in a six-frame streak to reach the last 16.

Allen said: “After the match yesterday I had a few drinks, I got a burger. I just thought I can’t play any worse than I played yesterday. I was so down on myself that I didn’t really want to talk to anyone after that session.

“So I went and had a few drinks, watched the football, had a few bets with my mates, a bit of bad food, and I slept really well last night and slept better today. I just felt like I’d been doing things so well, to play that bad I was gutted.” Allen, a two-time Crucible semi-finalist, returned to share the first two frames with his Chinese opponent before belatedly discovering his rhythm. A 140 clearance followed by a break of 109 hauled him back level and handed him the initiative for the first time.

Zhang, a former ranking event winner who had blazed through qualifying, began to look uncharacteristically frustrated and Allen capitalised, seizing on a desperate safety error to go in front for the first time then extending his lead to go 8-6 in front.

With Zhang plainly wilting, Allen summoned his third century of the day with a break of 129, then wrapped up an ultimately convincing victory in a manner far removed from yesterday’s session which he branded “embarrassing”.

Allen, who punched the air once victory was complete, added: “I want to be world champion. It would be a disappointing career for me if I look back on my career and hadn’t won it. That’s why I was so frustrated yesterday.”

Frustration also got the better of another former semi-finalist, David Gilbert, who thumped the side of the table during a testing first session that left him trailing China’s Ding Junhui 7-2 ahead of Monday morning’s conclusion.

Ali Carter staged a spectacular recovery from 4-0 down to lead four-time champion John Higgins 5-4 after the opening session of their first-round match, which is also set to finish on Monday.

Higgins looked unstoppable heading into the mid-session interval but Carter responded with breaks of 91 and 74 as he won five frames in a row, with the Scot reeling after missing a simple frame-ball red that would have sent him 5-1 in front.

Barry Hawkins cruised into second round as he turned a 7-2 overnight advantage into a 10-4 win over fellow former Crucible finalist Matthew Stevens.

Hawkins, beaten in the 2013 final by Ronnie O’Sullivan, lost the first two frames upon the resumption but capitalised on Stevens’ errors to reel off the three frames required to seal his first win at the venue since 2021.